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Friday, April 27, 2012

Guest Post: An Oonalicious Taffy

Oonaballoona has to be one of the greatest blogging stars ever to hit the community She truly does not need an introduction, as those of us who have been happily 'Oonafied' delight in her adventures. Those of you who are yet unaware of this fantastic lady, get thyself to her blog forthwith and introduce yourself!

Oona is talented, adventurous, and has a delightfully sharp wit. Below is her hilarious chronicle of making her own Taffy Blouse and the battle that ensued between New York Oona and California Oona.

* * * * *

i
was so glad when sarah and erin asked me to share my experience with
the taffy blouse, since i never really posted about the making of it in
the first place! (true to form, i paired a Jazz Concert with a Me-Made,
and the perplexing tether that connects events in my brain called it A Blog Post.)

so! le blouse du taffy. i scored this gorgeous material during our big new york meetup last
fall. i swear, every piece of material bought that day was anointed in
holy sewist water. (where would one get that? possibly from the first
ever steam iron? its vessel is always mysteriously full; it resides in
a secret room in the labyrinth under chanel.) during those glorious
sunny hours, i played co-host, and sternly told myself: no fabrics. i
would be too busy co-hosting. ten minutes into our first stop, i had
four bolts out. total haul: around twenty pounds of fabric, and not one
piece has failed me.

that
said, i have no idea what most of the fabric from that haul IS. i've
pored over sarah and erin's posts on taffy fabric choices, hoping to
recognize mine, but really... no idea. perhaps one of you might sleuth
this material? if i had a scrap in my possession, i'd do a burn test,
but the silvery remnants are in new york, and the blouse itself was left
languishing there as well, in favor of a californian summer palette. i
do remember the fabric having little to no stretch, with a lovely
burnout pattern. i think you call this burnout... again, i'm no expert
on fabric. is there such a thing as burn in?

after
tracing off my size, i began my usual pattern adjustments. first and
foremost: raising the waist. this time i took it up a good two inches.
this affected that fascinating bust dart that juts out of the pattern
piece like italy's boot. so, i closed up the dart, folded it down just
as i would have if i were using fabric, and added a bit more paper to
the edges to make the side seam behave as it should. now.
speaking of boob darts. being a smaller cupped gal, i've had issues
with colette patterns, sized for the C cupped woman. lotsa gaping going
on for this this wee B. to solve this problem i just traced the
smallest dart, the size zero, so the apex would be as high as possible.
questionable pattern alteration? yes indeedy. but let's face it, if
i'm not making a muslin, knowing i have to adjust for high waist /
small bust / square linebacker shoulders / erect back, do you really
think i'll be rotating any darts? no, i get way too excited about the
glorious material in front of me to do it right.

and,
there's something equally exciting about having to make it work when it
goes wrong. HOW WILL I EVER FIX THIS ONE, i'll often think, geekily
knowing inside i will indeed fix it and then have the right to feel
Incredibly Smarmy About It. it's flawed logic, i know. shhhhhh.

still,
i try to be smart about this half baked way of thinking. i always use a
basting stitch and fit as i go. here's my path: sew bodice darts, hold
it up to mirror. check. baste side seams, pin shoulders and try
again. check. only, this method doesn't work with sleeved garments.
OOPS. i shrugged my square shoulders and serged everything together.

lo
and behold, when i threw it on, the neck was so wide it was a bad
attempt at a flashdance costume. if the Costumer had put jennifer
beals in a top that fell off the shoulder TO HER ANKLES. not exactly
the colette asthetic. really, a fail.

a
fail?! a chance to make it work! HUZZAH! i pinched the fabric,
looking for where it wanted to go... it wanted darts at the front and
back necklines. so i gave it what it wanted. i'm benevolent like
that. and instant karma for my generosity: i LOVED the weird extra
darts! in my head, they play with the sheer fabric quite well.

mission
accomplished, i moved on to the raw edges of the neck, arm, and hem.
self made bias tape wasn't going to happen with my wee bit of yardage,
and anyways at the time, i was all PHOOEY ON SELF MADE BIAS. Future
California Oona was most certainly laughing and shaking her head at Past
New York Oona's ignorance. yes, Future Oona giggled mightily
poolside, drink in hand, extra sharp needle in the other, stitching her
fifth garment finished off with self made bias tape, you just wait.
Present Oona has indeed wised up, i'm addicted to the stuff now, and i
adore sarai's method of attaching it front to back. i like to
blindstitch the backside of it, while sipping a cocktail. no, truly, i
do. all Oonas are in total agreement on this point.

but
for this go, Past Oona was all uppity. i dug into my drawer of trim
and found this wee floral crocheted stuff. i serged the neck, sleeve
and hem edges in one circular swoop (they had been raw and handled
carefully to prevent fraying the whole time--i don't like to overlock
each pattern piece before sewing when using dainty stuff like this, i
find it much harder to get a clean finish on circular edges when they've
already got threads in them), then pinned this trim on the neck and
straight stitched it right down the middle. i left the hem and sleeve
edges serged, thinking too much of these little flowers would be... too
much.

i'm
constantly playing hide the ties with anything wrap-like in my closet,
so i decided to omit them. i prefer a belted look-- belts are like
candy to me, and i have a knack for finding dollar waist goodies in
every color.

i
was so happy with this top, i wore it immediately. that's unusual for
me. when i make something because i want to wear it IMMEDIATELY (like
in 4 hours from when i start the garment) i usually end up wearing
something else while the garment gets a cooling off period in the
closet. its probationary sentence is used to coax myself into
forgetting any shooting-myself-in-the-foot activity that might've
occurred. but even with my refusal to do things the proper way, the
pattern was impossible to mess up TOO much. so, to a holiday
celebration it went, that very night.

so
that's my oonafied version of sarai's indestructible taffy. actually,
as i wrote this post, i was alarmed to recall my path. i realized i've
been getting more and more thoughtful in my sewing. it would seem
California Oona has learned a few tricks, a little patience, a few new
cocktails... come on over and see me sometime if you'd like proof.

thanks
erin and sarah for having me... i'm excited to see ALL of your perfect
taffys, you colette challengers, i'm positive there will be much teeth
gnashing in kalkatroona!